When one thinks of holiday festiveness, fishing isn’t often what comes to mind. For four Utah County men, however, adding a little festive holiday spirit to their family fishing excursions, has brought some holiday cheer to Salem Pond.
The Olson family, consisting of brothers, Jake, Alex and Ty, as well as Jake’s son Ryker, have taken it upon themselves to dress as Christmas-themed characters and call themselves, the “Festive Fishermen.”
Jake dresses as the Grinch, Ryker as the Gingerbread Man, Alex as Santa, and Ty as Buddy the Elf.
“This will be our third year doing it,” Jake said. “We just love to fish, especially at Salem Pond and it was around Christmas time three years ago when we just thought, ‘Why not dress up?’ We thought it would be funny to see the Grinch and Santa and Buddy the Elf fishing, and so we did it just to be funny. But people loved it so we’ve just done it every year.”
The first two years, it was just Jake and his brothers, but this year is when Ryker decided he wanted to join in the fun, as the Gingerbread Man.
“His costume is a blowup costume, and we were joking with him, wondering how he was going to cast (a fishing rod) with it on, but he figured it out,” Jake said.
The Olsons grew up in Salem, and Jake said that fishing at the pond has been a longstanding tradition for them.
“We go fishing whenever we can,” Jake said. “We just love to be out with each other. We do a lot of kayak fishing during the summer out here on Salem Pond. I actually live really close to the pond, so it’s just really convenient for us to go out and just have a good time.”
The location of Salem Pond is also convenient for those who want to see the quartet in action.
“Because we are right by the highway, a lot of people will see us fishing,” Jake said. “A lot of people, especially with younger kids will just stop and the kids will come up and want to take their pictures with us. It’s a lot of fun.”
The Olsons also bring candy canes to hand out to visitors, and Jake said that it has been a great way for them to also step out of their comfort zones and into the holiday spirit.
“We’re all a bunch of introverts, but this is a way for us to be a little extroverted and spread Christmas joy,” Jake said.
The Festive Fishermen will be at Salem Pond every Saturday through December and one or two days throughout the week. Jake says that they plan on doing this for years to come.
“I think we’ll keep doing it every year. It’s a lot of fun to hand out candy canes to kids when they come up for pictures. We really enjoy it.”
